Part 2: Aftermath of a Brilliant Comic’s Death: Funnyman Robin Williams

(Photo I took a few years ago of the rooftop of Le Chateau, a clothing store)

According to Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Alberta (http://alberta.cmha.ca/mental_health/statistics/#.U_l5yaNGiQE), the number I guessed, that one out of five people suffer from some sort of a mental illness is correct. See more details on the link if you are interested.

To disambiguate the term ‘mental illnes’: “Mental illness is the term used to refer to a variety of mental disorders that can be diagnosed. Mental disorders are health conditions that are characterized by alternations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning.” (CMHA Canada, http://www.cmha.ca/media/frequently-asked-questions/#.U_l6OaNGiQE.)

Here are some plain and easy-to-read facts and information about mental illness and some interesting statistics: http://www.cmha.ca/media/fast-facts-about-mental-illness/#.U_l7GqNGiQE.

I’m surprised I didn’t become a psych(iatric) nurse for several reasons, one of which I will refer to in Part 3 of this series. My first full-time job was working as a Medical Secretary for The Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in the Biopsychology department and The Human Brain Laboratory – no kidding, this is true – though the two head doctors I worked for did not see patients as they were both research scientists. Next door was the Addiction Research Foundation; it has changed names over the years.

What I want to elucidate is the fact that mental illness/depression/concurrent disorders is a real issue that should be dealt with and not swept under the carpet. Dealt with not necessarily with medication or medication only – did you know most act as a placebo and/or do not work for a number of clients? – but spoken about outrightly in society as we would Robin Williams’s death or better yet, the weather for that matter. An everyday occurrence, not with a matter-of-fact tone perhaps, but with openness and honesty, with genuine compassion and empathy.

Robin starred in the movie, Dead Poet’s Society where a student commits suicide. In Awakenings, Robin’s role is on in which he discovers that a drug is used to treat Parkinson’s disease, something which excites him. This seems rather ironic in that Robin "suffered" from both.

Further irony is fueled due to the name of the song and implied suicide scene is Bobby McFerrin’s popular video of his famous a capella hit song in 1988, "Don’t Worry, Be Happy" in which Robin Williams appears as several happy characters a number of times:



I’m curious, if Western society (not sure about the rest of the world) were more comfortable in speaking more publicly about death and suicide, could we, would we avoid or rather prevent suicidal deaths from occurring?

What do you think?

Part 1: Aftermath of a Brilliant Comic’s Death: Funnyman Robin Williams

Let me start off by saying that some of you may think that 'funnyman' is spelled incorrectly. I thought it was a compound word and checked in case it was two: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funnyman clearly indicates its correct spelling and meaning: a man who is funny; especially a professional comedian.

There has been a lot of media articles and social media discussion in the aftermath of Robin William's suicidal death which you are most likely familiar with. Yes, I said those words: “death” and “suicide” (and in one sentence!) which generally speaking are words mostly avoided like the black plague (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death) in today's society, at least in this part of the world in which I live. Why is that?

Some articles and reports have been rather personal from people who have experienced depression or concurrent disorder which is a mental health disability plus a substance abuse problem (namely alcohol and/or drugs). The latter has become known as a commonplace condition, more the norm than formerly believed, which Robin suffered from. See http://www.centralwestcdn.ca/about-concurrent-disorders#A for some examples, and if you scroll down (about 1/4 down the page) you will see varying stats for how common an occurrence this disorder is.

Now, I’m not a fan of labels; however, my purpose here is to inform and/or educate in part about depression and concurrent disorders.

What matters most is this: we – the general public – are talking about it more openly, if not in person, at least in general public behind our technological screens like Facebook since the news of Robin’s tragic demise. If anything, that is the seemingly good that has arisen from this bad event. (Even ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are labels, but I digress here.)

To draw an analogy – I hope you don’t mind – it reminds me of the ALS ice bucket challenge that has stormed America through social media. Anthony Carbajal, a young man who was diagnosed with ALS, a hereditary condition, created a video worth seeing. See below, though here is the link: http://www.upworthy.com/the-last-ice-bucket-challenge-you-need-to-see-and-you-really-should-see-it that I highly recommend viewing:



At the 3:15 to 3:30 time mark, an emotional Anthony remarks,

“I hate talking about it. I really hate talking about it. That’s probably why nobody talks about it, because it’s so challenging to watch, it’s so challenging to see, to talk about, nobody wants to see a depressing person that’s dying, that has two to five years to live, they don’t want to talk about it, they don’t want to see their day ruined.”

How true is that of ALS and potentially (can be) with other issues such as depression or concurrent disorders or dementia or cancer or ...the list goes on, i.e., a host of other conditions?

Will he and others like him - with an ill-fated diagnosis - commit or want to commit suicide in the face of pain and/or impending death? See how rampant this issue is and/or can become?

This is why we need to be talking about these issues as everyday matters in everyday conversation like we do with the weather and whatnot.

Would you agree? Why or why not?